Which means you're going to need a motor with a lot of torque to lift that weight, which means a lot of input current from your power source, right? Or, if your input is small, then you need a lot of time.
The torque and speed of the process are less relevant, as you'll just gear the motor to match the load (and possibly to keep the motor at peak efficiency).
If you still want a weight system then have a vessel as a weight and fill/empty it at the top/bottom of the drop and use a counterweight to return the vessel. Then you only need a small pump instead.